Ready to SEE YOU IN PHUKET…Start July 1, 2021 “NO QUARANTINE”!!!
You will be able to visit Thailand again, starting at the big island “Phuket” on the first of July 2021!
If you are already fully vaccinated for Covid-19 for at least 14days and not more than 12months!
Then you can travel to Phuket after 1st of July and you do not need to quarantine but you must stay in Phuket for at least 14days before visiting other destinations in Thailand.
I wasn’t sure about one of the requirements that you have to have Covid-19 insurance. They provided the link for the insurance, it looks like you have to pay extra for your trip – just thinking.
Ref: https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/no-quarantine-phuket-sandbox-plan
I went back to read my blog for our first trip to Phuket in 2014.
We have no plan to go back to Phuket yet but now I’ll have to get ready, so I checked all the places that I’ve been to in 2014 and find more info to see if they are still in business when Thailand opens for fully vaccinated tourists to Phuket.
On our first trip to Phuket, we stayed at Wyndham Sea Pearl Villas Resort in the Patong area. Luckily this hotel is included in SHA+ hotel that you can stay for 14 days in Phuket (before you can travel to the other parts of Thailand).
Check all SHA+ Hotel list in Phuket https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/phuket-sandbox-hotels
The hotel is clean, great location (not in front of the beach), but nice pool, nice view and safe…
Ready for the nightlife?
As I mentioned we stayed in Patong (2014), it’s only 2kms away from our hotel to the beach. The hotel provided the resort van between Resort – Market. But sometimes it took a long time or a long walk to the meeting point. We always paid 250+ baht for a Tuk tuk, the 3-wheel taxi – this price was very high for me!
The nightlife may not be back the same as before – I’m sure the laborers returned to their hometown when the pandemic started – it might take a while for them to come back to work in Phuket again.
Hooters Phuket announced that they are closed since April 2020 and until further noticed
https://www.facebook.com/hootersphuket/
Patong Night Bazaar, the biggest market and nightlife market in Phuket, their last Facebook post was on January 2019 and nothing updated after that…
https://www.facebook.com/Patong-Bazaar-1090101887829869/
The Fishing trip (I don’t have the contact for the one we went to in 2014), I would like to recommend you DON’T BUY ANY TOUR ONLINE and pay it online, they don’t really update their website. You never know that the travel site can be trusted during this time. Go buy the tour when you are there!
But you can enjoy the sightseeing, the real nature that opens for you around the island!
There are so many beaches around the island, but the first top 3 are Patong, Karon, and Kata.
*This trip we didn’t play water much (only snorkeling during the Fishing trip).
Check out the viewpoint at Phom Thep Cape (แหลมพรมเทพ). I remembered that we went there and we were in line to take a picture.
But we didn’t get to take pictures! It was packed and most of the tourists took unlimited poses with the view. It’s just because the view is so stunning.
Temples, there 2 temples that we explored.
The first one is Chalong temple (วัดฉลอง).
This temple was very loud from firecrackers and filled with Chinese tourists at that time…
And The Big Buddha temple (วัดพระใหญ่) on top of the mountain.
Where to eat in Phuket
Finding the place to eat in Thailand, it’s easy – LIKE Rats falling into a bucket of rice (Thai saying)!!!
Our favorite place to eat in Phuket is Raya Restaurant (ระย้า). They serve the Yellow Curry and Crabmeat (served with noodle), this is super awesome.
Tim said, I’m not hungry but he can’t stop eating!
I didn’t get paid for writing this, but the crabmeat curry is what we still talk about it when we think about the Phuket trip. The other menus at this restaurant are quite pricy for us…if we can go back here again, we will just order the crabmeat curry LOL.
Luckily, Raya is open every day from 10am – 9pm
https://www.facebook.com/therayarestaurant
The Weekend Market (ตลาดนัดเจ้าฟ้าวาไรตี้ , I think they changed the name to Naka Market), the market opens only on Saturday and Sunday from 4pm until midnight.
This is a huge market where you can find cheap knockoff clothes, shoes and accessories, local handicrafts, souvenirs and food! We went there to get some food to go and bring it to eat at our hotel.
Tim also got the cocktail to go from this market!
The Facebook says that the market is open from 4pm to 9pm https://www.facebook.com/ChaofaVarietyWeekendMarket
Check out Mark Wien who lives in Thailand and just made the recent video about Phuket (June 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVBVb8qSuNU&t=206s
Another view from Chris “An Unbelievable True Story from Phuket, Thailand”, recently posted on June 26, 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6_0m-DaoCw&t=453s
